Cordova Ridge Shops Facing Foreclosure

Cordova Ridge Shops, a Class A retail center on North Houston Levee Road, is facing foreclosure after its Nashville-based owner defaulted on a $3.3 million loan, according to a first-run foreclosure notice in the Aug. 1 Daily News.

Cordova Ridge is slated to be sold Aug. 23 by substitute trustees Nelwyn Inman and Robert F. Tom.

Built in 2002, the 21,832-square-foot, L-shaped strip shopping center is situated on 2.1 acres on the east side of Houston Levee south of Macon Road. It currently has six empty bays totaling a little more than 9,000 square feet, according to Market Land’s website.

The center, appraised by the Shelby County Assessor at $2.2 million, is attached to a 54,000-square-foot Kroger that is not owned by Market Land and is not included in the sale.

The Nashville-based company owns two other Memphis-area properties: Appling Crossing Shops at Appling Road and U.S. 70 in Bartlett, and Arlington Center at U.S. 70 and Airline Road in Arlington.

For the full text of the foreclosure notice, see the Foreclosures section of Wednesday’s Daily News or visit memphisdailynews.com.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Air Canada Cuts Nonstop to Toronto

Two years after launching daily nonstop service at Memphis International Airport, the Air Canada regional carrier Jazz will drop the nonstop service to Toronto effective Sept. 18.

Jazz Air LP had one daily flight, according to June figures from the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority.

The end of the service comes at about the same time a new round of cuts in service by Delta Air Lines begin. Memphis International is a hub for Delta.

Air Canada began the twice daily nonstop service year round between Memphis and Toronto in May 2010. Memphis was one of seven U.S. markets Air Canada was entering with the move. When the service began, Air Canada was using 75-seat jets, which is the new preferred smallest passenger capacity jets many airlines are moving to for their regional service. But the flights now use 50-seat jets, which carriers are abandoning. Air Canada still flies the 50-seaters and has announced no plans to abandon them.

Memphis International had Memphis to Toronto service with Northwest Airlines. But the direct service was dropped when Northwest merged with Delta.

CK's Coffee Shops Closes 10 Locations

The shops are owned by Jerry Vela and Randy Gross, who are facing “money problems,” according to the report.

The Daily News reported in March that Vela and Gross, brothers-in-law and Chicago natives, signed a five-year lease for 1,390 square feet of the existing 4,900-square-foot Old Medina Market Gas Station at 2800 Old Medina Road. The deal marked the duo’s expansion into Jackson, Tenn.

The Daily News was unable to reach Vela and Gross for comment.

WREG reports that two CK’s locations will remain open. Those include a CK’s at Poplar Avenue and North Evergreen Street and a CK’s on East Shelby Drive near Millbranch Road.

– Sarah Baker

Ritz New Commission Chair, Burgess Chair Pro Tempore

Shelby County Commissioners elected Republican Mike Ritz the new chairman of the body Monday, July 30, for a one-year term that begins Sept. 1. Democrat Melvin Burgess was chosen as chairman pro tempore for the same one-year term.

Ritz’s selection came on the seventh round of voting. The seven rounds followed 21 rounds of voting two weeks ago in which no candidate got the seven votes necessary to claim the chairmanship.

The commission, meanwhile, delayed the selection of a new chief administrator to replace Steve Summerall, who recently retired. The chief administrator oversees the commission office.

Commissioners are considering a change in the body’s rules, which would allow the chief administrator instead of the commission to appoint the deputy administrator.

Meanwhile, a final try by the commission to approve a redistricting plan on third and final reading fell three votes short of the nine-vote majority needed to approve it. The plan is the same one approved and ordered put in place last month by Chancellor Arnold Goldin. It changes the commission to a set of 13 single-member districts.

Some on the commission wanted what amounted to a ratification vote to prevent any future legal challenges of the county charter’s requirement of a nine-vote majority to pass an ordinance on third and final reading. The charter requirement conflicts with state law, which requires only a seven-vote simple majority.

In his ruling on the point, Goldin specified that he was not ruling on anything but the redistricting plan.

The commission also approved on the second of three readings the new Unified Development Code after voting down an amendment that would have tightened conditions on the administrative deviation process that is part of the new code.

– Bill Dries

Mallory to Chair Chamber Logistics Council

The president of Mallory Alexander International Logistics is the new chairman of the Regional Logistics Council of the Greater Memphis Chamber.

Neely Mallory III will serve a two-year term in the post, succeeding attorney Arnold Perl. Mallory was appointed by chamber chairman Larry Cox.

The council markets the area’s infrastructure and locations for moving goods and services and it is made up of professionals from the logistics industry.

Mallory Alexander is one of the largest third-party logistics organizations in the country with a global reach.

– Bill Dries

Northeast County Fire Station Reopens

The old Shelby County Fire Engine Company 60 is open again for service starting Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Shelby County government reopened the fire station at 5380 Egypt Central Road, which was closed in 1988. A fire engine from the Lakeland fire station is moving to the location and there will be no additional firefighters hired.

Engine Company 60 will serve an area of 4,000 homes and businesses in northeast Shelby County. Virtually all of them are within 2.5 miles. The remaining 4 percent are within five miles.

– Bill Dries

EdR Announces Executive Additions

EdR, a Memphis-based developer, owner and manager of collegiate housing, has announced the addition of several key executives: Scott Barton, vice president of acquisitions; Liz Keough, vice president and general counsel; Randy Simpson, vice president of information technology; and James Kenner, director of interior design.

Barton will help grow EdR’s portfolio of collegiate housing and manage leasing efforts for retail at all properties. He previously was at CB Richard Ellis Memphis LLC, where he was senior vice president of retail brokerage services.

Keough, as a director with Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston PC, has been involved with EdR for the past eight years and worked with the team of lawyers that helped transform it from a private company into a real estate investment trust in 2005. She has experience in a number of areas that support EdR’s service lines, such as commercial real estate transactions, developing and negotiating contracts, joint venture agreements, litigation and tax incentives.

Simpson came to EdR from Diversified Trust, where he served as vice president of information services. At EdR, he manages the company’s corporate technology department.

Kenner brings creativity and experience in commercial interior design, student housing renovations and new construction as well as project management to EdR. Most recently he was a partner at Inter-Logic Design in Memphis.